Human Development in India (IHDS-I and II)

India Human Development Surveys I (2004-5) and II (2011-12) (IHDS-I and II) form part of a collaborative research program between researchers from the National Council of Applied Economic Research and the University of Maryland. The goal of this program is to document changes in the daily lives of Indian households in a society undergoing rapid transition.

India Human Development Surveys I (2004-5) and II (2011-12) (IHDS-I and II) form part of a collaborative research program between researchers from the National Council of Applied Economic Research and the University of Maryland. The goal of this program is to document changes in the daily lives of Indian households in a society undergoing rapid transition. In documenting the way they live, work, educate their children, care for their aged parents, and deal with ill health, we seek to infuse the development discourse with the experiences of ordinary people. Building on NCAER’s prior work in the 1990s, these surveys provide a rich empirical data base that will be available free of charge to a wide range of researchers in India and abroad, allowing for informed policy debates. The IHDS-I data are available free of charge to researchers worldwide and are being used by about 7,000 users. With an urban and rural sample of over 40,000 households spread across 33 states and union territories of India, the IHDS are the first large scale nationwide panel surveys in India and will serve as a unique public resource.

The latest report on MGNREGA: A Catalyst for Rural Transformation published by NCAER and University of Maryland is available here

Researchers

Sonalde Desai

Sonalde Desai (Distinguished University Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Maryland and Professor and Centre Director, NCAER-National Data Innovation Centre, New Delhi) is a demographer whose work deals primarily with social transformation and its impact on the lives of individuals with a focus on education, employment, gender, and maternal and child health. She leads the... Read More
Om Prakash Sharma

O. P. Sharma is a Fellow at the NCAER, specializing in primary data collection, field management, field training, coding and editing. He is currently working in the project ‘India Human Development Survey-III. Some of the other studies he has worked on include: Fertilizer Consumption and Quality Seeds, India Human Development Survey-I 2004-05, Rural Economic and Demographic... Read More
Dinesh Kumar Tiwari

Dinesh Kumar Tiwari is a Fellow at NCAER. He is an anthropologist with rich experience of primary data collection of large scale social surveys, qualitative interviews and experimental data collection with special focus on field management, monitoring and supervision, ensuring data quality. His areas of interest include migration studies, ethnographic research, public health and experimental economics..... Read More
Debasis Barik

Debasis Barik is a Senior Fellow at the NCAER-National Data Innovation Centre (NDIC). His primary research areas include public health and mortality, migration, gender, healthcare financing, and environmental health. He is a demographer by training and has for long been associated with survey design and survey implementation. At NDIC, he led an experiment, which aimed at... Read More
Prabir Kumar Ghosh

Prabir Kumar Ghosh is a Senior Fellow at NCAER. Currently, he is involved in coordinating all-India level survey work and analysis of large scale primary data. His research interests include development economics, human development, income, expenditure, poverty & nutrition, demography, and budgetary analysis on social sector & poverty alleviation programs.
Jaya Koti

Jaya Koti is working as a Research Analyst with the National Data Innovation Centre (NDIC) at NCAER. She holds a post-graduation degree in Rural Development from the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). She has worked on various projects at the institution, like “Under Nutrition and Public Policy in India”, and the “India Human Development Survey”, among others.... Read More
Ruchi Jain

Ruchi Jain is a Senior Research Analyst at NCAER. She is a demographer by training. Her primary research interest is in public health, gender, reproductive and sexual health and migration. At NCAER, she has worked on various projects like IDRC, IHDS and Rural Housing. Currently she is working with the National Data Innovation Centre. Her doctoral... Read More
Anupma Mehta

Anupma Mehta is Head of Publications and Senior Editor at NCAER. She leads the editorial and content writing team at the institution, overseeing the writing, editing, and production of diverse company literature, including digital content, newsletters, reports, working papers, press releases, and project briefs. She is Managing Editor of the in-house journals, the India Policy Forum, and Margin:... Read More